As the sun gradually sank below the horizon, Yu Wei returned early to the dormitory.
The longhouse contained ten beds, all of them currently empty except for hers.
The atmosphere in the First Immortal Sect was one of relentless diligence, with nearly everyone immersed in arduous cultivation. After finishing their assigned chores, the outer Disciples devoted themselves to training and study. If there were no formal classes, they practiced on their own, and most did not return to rest until the moon hung high in the sky.
Yu Wei was different. Aside from the mandatory large lecture held every three days and her daily duties, which she was not allowed to miss, she never attended any other optional activities.
Only a silly cat with no ambitions would return to the dormitory so early. Ning Suyi occasionally came back late as well, just like today.
Yu Wei’s bed was the one at the very back of the room, against the wall.
She slipped off the outer robe of her Disciple uniform and nestled comfortably beneath her blanket. From the seam of the mattress she pulled out a storybook, which Ning Suyi had specially bought for her to help her become familiar with the cultivation world.
Yu Wei knew little about it. Before entering the First Immortal Sect, she had wandered between several villages along the border of the human realm. In her human form she was far more delicate than in her cat form, and she also ate more, so she had mostly remained a cat, only occasionally transforming back into a girl.
The border villages were generally poor, especially those lying between the human and demon realms. Still, as a cat she could hunt small animals, and her days of drifting along, eating and waiting for time to pass, had been fairly comfortable.
That changed when several demon cultivators invaded one of the villages, plunging it into chaos. The girl, who had shifted back into human form, hid in the shadows and watched everything unfold with clear, limpid eyes.
The demon clan ate humans, and she felt no fear. When Disciples from the First Immortal Sect arrived and slew the demon cultivators, she had no particular reaction either.
When the leading Disciple traced her location using the Bone-Measuring Stone at his waist, he found a girl with skin like fresh snow and long black hair crouched in the corner of a courtyard. Her innocent eyes reflected the bloodstained village, yet she seemed utterly out of place amid the carnage.
The Bone-Measuring Stone was a magical treasure of the First Immortal Sect, typically carried by the leader of a team. It would react upon encountering a mortal with cultivation potential. When Disciples went to the human realm on missions, they would bring back any promising seedlings recognized by the stone.
By coincidence, the team Yu Wei encountered was no ordinary group. It was an elite squad led by Song Xueshen, the senior brother of the Sword Division. They had just returned from a mission in the demon realm and had saved the village along the way, never expecting to encounter her.
Yu Wei had been terribly hungry at the time. Song Xueshen, who led the team, gave her food. It was the first time she had tasted dishes prepared by a culinary cultivator, meals infused with gentle restorative properties. To a little cat demon accustomed to eating raw meat every day, it was nothing short of astonishing. She followed them without hesitation.
Along the way, the Disciples treated her with great care. What Yu Wei did not know was that when the Bone-Measuring Stone at Song Xueshen’s waist encountered her, it had burst into dazzling white light, something that happened only in the presence of a once-in-a-millennium prodigy.
The Disciples believed they had discovered a rare genius. Yet after escorting her enthusiastically back to the sect, they discovered that she was not only no prodigy, but even possessed demon blood.
At first, seeing her so innocent and beautiful, they had thought she carried the bearing of an immortal maiden, untouched by the mortal world, which explained her unusual aura.
Once they learned of her demon lineage, that beauty seemed to transform into something bewitching and ominous, marking her as a treacherous demoness who might harm others, someone they felt compelled to kill.
The girl never knew that she had brushed past death several times.
If not for the sect’s rules, which decreed that anyone recognized and brought back by the Bone-Measuring Stone must be accepted as a Disciple so long as they had committed no moral transgressions, and if not for the final decision made by Song Xueshen, the chief Disciple of the Sword Division, Yu Wei might truly have lost her life.
In the end, Yu Wei was assigned to Ninth Mountain, one of the twelve outer peaks, and became an unremarkable outer Disciple.
It was only then that she discovered the outer canteen’s food was dreadful, utterly incomparable to the heavenly meals that had lured her here.
She felt thoroughly deceived.
After some time, she met Ning Suyi. From then on, the girl seemed to grow a brain in her head, good food in her stomach, storybooks in her hands, and a beautiful companion to lean against when she was tired. Everything left the cat quite satisfied.
Ning Suyi quickly realized that Yu Wei was utterly unfamiliar with both the human world and the cultivation world. She faintly sensed that Yu Wei was like a blank sheet of paper, untouched by human order and barely capable of distinguishing between good and evil in any conventional sense.
Yu Wei was like a curious and pristine child. Whether she would turn toward goodness or wickedness seemed to hinge entirely on a single thought of the little cat demon.
Whatever she became curious about, whatever she learned, she would become.
She possessed limitless possibilities.
Ning Suyi felt a profound sense of responsibility. Not only did she have to feed this gluttonous and picky little cat, she also had to teach her how to be human. That included forbidding her from toying with small animals, eating raw meat, or transforming back into a cat in front of others.
After a year of social training, Yu Wei now looked convincingly human. Ning Suyi carefully selected more storybooks for her, ones without romance or bloody scenes. Most were travelogues meant to enlighten children of the cultivation world, along with lighthearted episodic tales featuring upright protagonists.
Such books were written simply. Adults might find the plots and prose somewhat blunt and naive, but for a little cat demon who had seen nothing of the world, they were just right.
Yu Wei picked up the book and began reading with great interest.
Before long, she felt uncomfortable. The Disciples’ beds were too hard. To cultivate endurance, the instructors did not allow them to thicken their bedding at will, and there were uniform requirements for the outer Disciples’ living quarters.
If she placed her own blanket together with Ning Suyi’s beneath her, it felt somewhat better, but without anything covering her, she lacked a sense of security while reading.
She glanced around to make sure no one was present, then draped the blanket over herself and discreetly let her white tail emerge beneath it.
Her tail had been properly sun-dried and carefully brushed that day, soft and fluffy. Holding it in her arms filled her with warmth and the scent of sunshine, an indescribable comfort.
She had learned to read only a year ago, and her progress had been astonishingly fast, thanks in part to these storybooks. Even so, she still read more slowly than others.
By the time she finished one story, night had fallen.
Yu Wei set the book aside. While no one had yet returned, she slipped fully beneath the blanket and began grooming her tail, which she had flattened by lying on it.
For a cat, grooming was like a massage for the spirit. She was absorbed in the task when the sound of the door opening reached her ears, and she hastily retracted her tail.
The two female Disciples who had just entered the dormitory saw that the bed in the corner bulged like a small hill. The edge of the blanket slowly lifted, revealing a pair of clear eyes peeking out in secret observation.
The moment their gazes met, the furtive little cat dropped the blanket at once, looking as guilty as a thief.
From beneath the covers, she quickly checked herself to ensure she had not shed any fur. Only then did she sit up as if nothing had happened, a few strands of hair sticking up from the friction against the blanket.
Tang Qianxin and Tao Wenwen, who had witnessed the entire scene, were speechless.
So adorable.
They had heard that Yu Wei’s true form was a cat, but knowing that somehow made her even cuter. They desperately wanted to see her original form, to find out whether a cat demon differed from an ordinary cat.
In truth, they had long been tempted to approach Yu Wei, but Ning Suyi guarded her like an older sister and protector, leaving them no opportunity to speak.
Ning Suyi’s vigilance was justified. The Disciples of the First Immortal Sect were unlikely to harbor much goodwill toward Yu Wei.
One reason was her demon blood. Another was her laziness and lack of diligence, traits utterly at odds with the sect’s ethos. Combined with ever-growing rumors, many Disciples disliked her.
Yet hearts were made of flesh. Among the ten women sharing this dormitory, more than half had gradually changed their attitude over the past year.
Had they never met her, they could have continued despising an alien Disciple who brought shame to the sect.
But after living under the same roof, they realized she was simply an innocent little girl, nothing like the malicious figure described in the rumors.
Admittedly, she was somewhat lazy, but little cats needed to grow too. What was wrong with being a bit lazy?
Yu Wei’s skin was flawless and her bones delicate, and she was exceptionally beautiful. Yet she was also tender and naive, always wearing a pure and guileless expression, without a trace of calculation. She even seemed younger than she looked.
Her clean, untainted presence stirred a protective instinct in the other girls.
Unfortunately, she already had Ning Suyi as her guardian. Otherwise, they would have liked to befriend her as well.
Today Ning Suyi had not yet returned. Aside from Tang Qianxin and Tao Wenwen, only Yu Wei remained in the room.
The two girls exchanged a glance. Their hearts itched with curiosity, yet they were somewhat wary of Ning Suyi.
Although Ning Suyi was usually low-key and gentle, perhaps because she came from a noble family, she carried herself with effortless composure and handled matters decisively, inspiring both respect and distance.
Still, the timing was too perfect. Of the two, Tang Qianxin was the bolder. On impulse, she walked straight toward Yu Wei.
Her own bed was not at the back. As Tang Qianxin approached, Yu Wei’s gaze held confusion and curiosity, but no trace of wariness or aversion.
When Tang Qianxin drew near, she quickly glanced toward the door, as if afraid Ning Suyi might return at any moment, then turned back to the girl.
“Xiao Wei, may I call you that?” Tang Qianxin asked nervously. “C-can we be friends?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she seemed to recall something and began rummaging through her clothes. The opportunity had come so suddenly that she had prepared no snacks and now felt a flicker of regret.
At that moment, a slender, fair hand extended toward her, a small dried fish resting in the palm.
Tang Qianxin lowered her head and met the girl’s clear, catlike eyes.
“Are you hungry?” Yu Wei asked. “You can have this.”
Tang Qianxin truly began to stammer. “Th-thank you!”
Heavens, she was being fed by a cat.